Since the establishment of Global Design Effort in 2005, I have been a member of Executive Committee as Accelerator Leader. In August 2008, I earned a new title, Asian Regional Director, taking over the job from Mitsuaki Nozaki.

The environment surrounding the International Linear Collider project differs in Americas, Europe and Asia, thus the jobs and roles of the Regional Directors differ considerably in the three regions. In Asia, I am feeling the urgent need to unite the regional coordination and collaboration. It might be from my narrow viewpoint, but it seems that Asian ILC collaborative efforts are based on bilateral relationships with Japan. What we should aim for right now is to develop a structure in which all Asian colleagues would work together to pursue accelerator and superconducting technology R&D before we can start any ILC specific efforts as the Asian region. While recognising the many issues which need to be addressed, we are receiving good news from Asian colleagues.

China, having just finished the two-week Olympic Games successfully, impressed the world with their exuberant energy. Some concern has been raised that China would suffer from post-Olympic recession. I am not sure about the economical impact, but for the ILC, it is surely not the case. We can count on China's progress in ILC R&D, as this country is going to contribute the XFEL project, and its ILC-related budget has increased.

This year, India joined the TESLA Technology Collaboration (TTC) and the next TTC meeting will be held in New Delhi from 20 to 23 October. KEK has a long history of collaborative relationship with Indian laboratories in various fields, and these relations have tightened since India stepped up efforts toward the construction of the facility for superconducting technology R&D last year. Korea, even though the impact of the new presidency on their science policy is still unclear, is active in ILC-related R&D, keeping close affinity with KEK. There will be an ILC Asia R&D Seminar at Kyongpook University in Daegu next month, and I am hoping that this seminar will play an important role to unite Asia to pursue future ILC R&D efforts.

Mt. Tsukuba:view from the window of Yokoya's new office.

I was in my tentative office surrounded by boxes when I reported last November. Now, I have moved to a new office, allegedly renovated to resist earthquakes. We have experienced a couple of quite big earthquakes since I moved into my new office, and I think the renovation construction is working well... and I am very happy not to see all these boxes around me anymore. In the same building, new office spaces are set for the Linear Collider Project Office, ILC Public Relations office and also the Asian Collaboration Office. This building is going to be a centre for ILC-related activities at KEK. Please stop by when you visit KEK.